As noted in the introductory portion of the specification of the aforesaid related applications, it is desirable to position coupons into passing containers in various commercial processing applications. In this way, for example, promotional materials such as discount coupons or prizes may be packaged with food or other items. Accordingly, the term "coupon" is used herein to include any type of insert, coupon, card, sheet, receipt, warranty, premium, and additionally, other three-dimensional novelty items that can be advantageously handled in accordance with the invention described hereinafter. Similarly, the term "container" is used in the broadest possible context to include containers such as boxes, tubs, cans and vessels of all kinds as well as other coupon receiving means which can be advantageously used with the present invention.
Heretofore, coupon dispensing systems in commercial settings have commonly required a stack of pre-cut coupons that are individually dispensed from a downwardly sloping channel, such as is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,530,200. In that system, pusher elements and advancing rollers coact to withdraw the forward most coupon from a pre-cut stack of coupons. The coupon is drawn into the downwardly sloping channel to a dispensing location. In other arrangements, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,179,113, a reciprocal vacuum head dispenses each coupon from a stack of pre-cut coupons and places the coupons in a conveyor system which transports the coupons to containers passing thereby.
The aforementioned related applications also disclose apparatus and methods for inserting coupons into moving containers. These applications disclose inserter machines that utilize a burster technique for separating a forwardmost coupon from a continuous web of coupons in timed relationship with a target container so that the forwardmost coupon is injected into the container. These machines are readily operable for successive insertion of coupons to accommodate various line processing speeds of the moving containers. In addition, such machines are relatively compact, and therefore may be readily placed at a plurality of locations along an integrated processing line without additional clutter, and are also readily transportable. Thus, such machines offer significant advantages, both in diminished real estate requirements, and in reliability in operation. However, such configurations are incapable of reliably processing coupons at insertion rates in excess of 300 coupons per minute. Likewise, such machines fail to provide adequate flexibility for handling three-dimensional and other specialty inserts.